I've never "farmed from scratch", most of our tractor use when I was a boy was in the woods hauling out pulpwood or sickle-mowing the fields. I read with great interest all the articles on cultivators, harrows, and moldboard plows, but I don't really know what each one is used for...

I would like to plant some grapes in the spring, and I need to make a couple of rows in the field, say no more than 200 linear feet, probably. I could just call someone local and have them do it for me, but then it wouldn't be so much fun and I wouldn't learn as much.

Allen - start with a turning plow. Either the typical moldboard plow or a disc plow will work. I believe the moldboard plows are more common and will be easier to find.
Then some sort of drag or disk harrow to break up the larger chunks and level the ground.
This should get you a reasonable seedbed to work with.

BigdogIf you can't fix it with a hammer, you've got an electrical problem.

BD is right on. After you have followed BD's instructions and you want a
high seed bed or row as we call them, you can use two disk hillers or disk hippers, depends upon the part of the country you are from as to what they are called.

They resemble a symbo mounted on a vertical shaft. As they are pressed
into the ground and the front/leading edge is turned at an angle of about
30 degrees to the row ahead the trailing edge will mound up the loose
earth. The width of the row [seed bed] can be varied by the distance
between the hillers and the height of the mounding will be determined
by: looseness of soil, depth of hillers, angle of attack, and speed at
which you travel.

Allen,
I don't know where you are starting from on growing grapes, but suggest you start at the NYS Extension Service. It is a major NY crop and the Service has lots of information.

I assume you will be transplanting nursery grown stock. You will get different opinions on this, but I recommend getting the best one year old stock you can find. If you choose a local variety that doesn't require grafted root stock, you could try direct planting of cuttings. Don't think I would recommend that if it is your first attempt at grapes.

You can save a lot of planting labor if you can open a trench to plant into. A middle buster or subsoiler with wings would be ideal but probably hard to find either. Second best, and something that can be done with a Cub, is to open a furrow with a plow. Going once each way will help open it up (will probably not work well unless your plow has a side chain). Even opening a small furrow with a pair of disk hillers would be a help. It will give you a straight line to work with and eliminate at least some of the digging.

Assuming you get bare rooted plants, the roots will be long dangling things that give you quite a bit of freedom in placement. Try to get each plant at the same depth it was growing, while getting the roots as deep and spread out as you reasonably can. We usually divided the roots into 2 groups letting each half go one way in the trench. Whatever else you do, NEVER let the roots dry out while they are exposed to the air.

Right now, I am starting from ground zero. I've tried to research the best grapes to grow in my part of New York given my soil type and temperatures, and I've tried to find where to get stock that is either naturally resistant to phylloxera or is grafted to native rootstock - so far not a lot of luck there... I will keep trying.

I think I have settled on Chardonnay., and I found a vineyard in NY over the web that I am going to try and call a bit later. Most immediately, I have a few books to read on viticulture...!

I would place a stake at the center of each end of the area to be plowed - add about 10 feet to each end. About 2 weeks before plowing I would spray the area with Roundup or similiar weed killer.

Eugene

Edit: I would also do a soil test. Depending on the test results, a good time to add anything needed would be just prior to plowing.

I started to respond several times. I'm putting in asparagus and berries in poor rocky clay Missouri soil this spring. I'm going to plow the first furrow then add turkey manure, compost and partially rotted hay to the bottom of the furrow. Plow second furrow and same. Once the area has been plowed I will add the same items over the top of the plowed area then disc in.

.

Last edited by Eugene on Thu Jan 19, 2006 11:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Oh yeah, do soil prep as Bigdog and Russ said. But make sure to grade out any swails, dead furrows, back furrows etc. before you plant. It is very difficult to do any grade improvement once the vines are in place.

Eugene wrote:I would place a stake at the center of each end of the area to be plowed - add about 10 feet to each end. About 2 weeks before plowing I would spray the area with Roundup or similiar weed killer.

Eugene

Edit: I would also do a soil test. Depending on the test results, a good time to add anything needed would be just prior to plowing.

I started to respond several times. I'm putting in asparagus and berries in poor rocky clay Missouri soil this spring. I'm going to plow the first furrow then add turkey manure, compost and partially rotted hay to the bottom of the furrow. Plow second furrow and same. Once the area has been plowed I will add the same items over the top of the plowed area then disc in.

.

Eugene - wouldn't it be easier to just spread the manure on the ground and then plow it under? The end result will be the same as what you described and a lot less labor intensive.

BigdogIf you can't fix it with a hammer, you've got an electrical problem.

I do not know about turkey s@#$. But chicken s@#$ is very hot and you have to be carefull not to burn the roots with it. My horse s@#$ is very mild if I do not have ny grain ground the oats will go right through him and start growing

Billy

Take care of your equipment and it will take care of you. 1964 cub. Farmall 100 and 130.

"Those that say it can’t be done should not interrupt the ones who are doing it.”

Labor intensive yes. What else is an old retired guy going to do to keep busy?

The asparagus patch is only about 15 feet by 20 feet. The berry patch is about 3 feet wide and 40 feet long. I have already plowed and incorporated the compost and hay once, then disc the area level. I then seeded winter rye. The area is mellowing out this winter. Will repeat this process in early spring.

The soil contains almost no humus, a lot of clay and numerous rocks. I'm trying to put as much humus in the soil as possible.